KANAGAWA (TR) – Kanagawa Prefectural Police have arrested a male anesthesiologist for allegedly paying a high school girl for sex earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (June 4).
Early on January 12, Tatsunori Yutani, a 43-year-old anesthesiologist at the Odawara Municipal Hospital, allegedly paid 60,000 yen in cash to the girl, then 17, to engage in acts deemed obscene at a hotel in Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture.
Upon his arrest for violating the anti-child prostitution law, Yutani said that he was unaware of the girl’s age.
According to police, Yutani, who lives in Isehara City, became acquainted with the girl on Twitter last September. He then met her on several occasions. The encounters took place at a hotel where the suspect was staying while he was dispatched to a hospital in Shizuoka.
There were fears that the suspect could have helped spread the novel coronavirus.
Five nurses at the hospital tested positive for the coronavirus in May. An inpatient in her 70s died from the disease COVID-19, which is caused by the virus, after she tested positive on May 2.
However, police have not been able to find evidence that the suspect met the girl after January 12.
